Phosphorylated intermediate of the ATPase of plant plasma membranes.

A partially purified preparation of the plant plasma membrane ATPase was phosphorylated when incubated with [gamma-32P]ATP. The phosphoprotein formed has the characteristics of an enzyme intermediate because of its rapidity of phosphorylation and dephosphorylation. The sensitivity of the phosphoenzyme bond to alkaline pH and to hydroxylamine indicates that it is an acylphosphate. Both the ATPase activity and the phosphorylation of the enzyme exhibited an apparent Km value of 0.3 mM ATP. When the phosphorylated enzyme was analyzed by electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate, only one major band with a molecular weight of about 105,000 contained radioactivity. These results indicate that the plant plasma membrane ATPase has a subunit composition and reaction mechanism similar to the cation-pumping ATPases of animal and fungal plasma membranes.